


Second Great Turf Wars

by CT_2864_Clone_1853034



Category: Splatoon
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:15:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24075055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CT_2864_Clone_1853034/pseuds/CT_2864_Clone_1853034
Summary: It's been 2 years since Commander Tartar took over Inkopolis with his primordial ink. Now, the New Squidbeak Splatoon along with other survivors return to take back their home.
Relationships: Agent 4/Marie (Splatoon), Marina/Pearl (Splatoon)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	1. Attack on Inkopolis

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first attempt to write a story. Constructive criticism is welcome! Please consider checking out my friend MyNameIsMarkus! I could never have written this without him! ^^

**Second Great Turf War**

**Chapter 1: Attack on the Reef**

A small drop of rain would fall from the foreboding sky and impact upon the cold, uncaring rocks closely followed by a ray of sunlight.

Out of the light morning mist a silhouette would show up before stopping and looking down at the once fair city of Inkopolis with despair. Her former home now turned into an ominous fortress and twisted parody of its former self.

In the world now long gone, she was known as the former popstar idol secret agency dedicated to the protection of Inkopolis.

Suddenly a slight squeak could be heard in the distance as another young squid roughly her age stumbled out of the fading mist.

Callie Cuttlefish, simply known as Agent 1 in the agency stumbled towards her cousin and Agent-in-Arms who would greet her with a warm smile.

“Still having problems climbing the rocks I see?” the grey tentacled girl would say with a slight giggle as her cousin put on a small pout.

The darker tentacled girl would cross her arms when she reached her fellow agent “It’s not my fault! They’re slippery!” The pouting girl would say to her cousin who put on her iconic smirk.

“You know, you would step in them less if you cut them slightly.” Marie would joke, much to the horror of Callie who started hugging her tentacles protectively.

“Don’t even joke about that Marie!” she would squeak in a defensive tone.

Marie would chuckle slightly before putting on a more serious face and gazed back at the city. “Have you gathered the others?” she would ask her cousin who would nod with her usual enthusiasm.

From the now dissipated mist, three inklings and two octolings would emerge.

The first one, a green tentacled inkling by the name of Noriko better known as Agent 3 to her comrades spoke up. “For a sniper, you came up here pretty fast Marie.” She would tell her friend.

The former idol was about to speak up but would be interrupted by a yellow tentacled inkling better known as Elaine or Agent 4.

“Of course, she is fast silly! A sniper needs to be quick on their feet if they get spotted!” The bubblier squid said in a cheery tone, earning her an annoyed groan from her fellow agent.

The yellow squid would look at Noriko with a confused look. “What? It’s true!” she would say as the other agent looked at her annoyed.

“Please don’t fight…” A timid sounding voice could be heard as a pink tentacled octoling walked up to them. “We are all friends here no?” she would say and put a hand on their shoulders.

Agent 3 would let out a small sigh and put her own hand on the octolings.

“Yes Masumi. We are.” She would tell the girl, also better known as Agent 8 within the agency.

“Yo if you three are done bickering, we have a city to rescue!” A stocky inkling would say as he approached the small group.

“Pearlie, take it easy. We can’t just rush in there recklessly.” Said the taller octoling as she slowly stumbled up the rocks to her companion, name of Pearl to some and Agent 5 to others.

“I know ‘Rina. But we gotta take our home back from that crazy phone yo!” Pearl would respond to Agent 6 or Marina as she was most known by.

“Yes… home…” Masumi would say in a sombre tone as she started to look down at the ground with a small tear following soon after.

Pearl who would be quick to notice this, walked over quickly to the octoling and out a hand on her shoulder.

“Masumi… I… sorry… it wasn’t my intention to remind you of… That…” Pearl would say as her voice softened.

Masumi would sniffle slightly as some bad memories started to resurface while Pearl tried to comfort her with the others joining in soon.

“I… No need to say sorry…” The octoling would say as she sniffed and wiped her tears away before looking back at Pearl and gave her a nod.

The stocky inkling would look at the ground slightly before her tall companion put a hand on her shoulder.

“Come now Pearlie. We need to focus on getting our home back like you said.” She would tell her with a smile that always managed to cheer up her partner.

“You’re right Rina, let’s take back our city yo!” She said as her bombastic personality resurfaced.

Marie would look back at the city once more and to Callie before nodding.

“This is it isn’t it?” She would ask her cousin who nodded back to her green counterpart.

The pink and black cuttlefish would whistle as a few more silhouettes appeared from the mist which would soon turn to several dozen.

Out of the dissipating fog inklings and octolings arrived, all dressed in what could only be described as uniforms.

One of them, an octoling male would walk up to Marie.

“What’s the plan ma’am?” he would say while looking at the squid sister through his transparent visor.

Marie would look to Callie once again who would give her a confident nod before she stepped up on a rock.

“People of Inkopolis.” She would begin with to get their attention. “Two years ago, our beautiful city and home was taken from us by the most wretched piece of machinery ever build. Commander Tartar.”

The mere name of the one who had taken their beloved home from them was enough to awaken the anger and hatred of several of the cephalopods that had gathered.

Marie would take a few moments to let the crowd calm down before continuing her speech.

“For two whole years we have endured and survived. And now that we have returned, look. Look at what he has done to Inkopolis!” She would say with a risen voice as she pointed at the mockery their city had been turned into.

“He has taken our city, the symbol of OUR society and species and turned it into an INSULT to all of inkling and octoling kind!”

As her speech went on, Marie’s emotions would start to get the better of her as the two years of anger and hatred towards the telephone got mixed into her speech.

“We shall or will not stand for this!” The normally calm and composed talk from her would start to turn into shouts fuelled by the former pop stars emotions.

“Today we retake our homeland! And with it, our LEGACY!”

The last yell of the speech caused the crowd of inklings and octolings to turn into a roar of applause and agreement, with morale now being at its peak.

Marie would step down from the rock with help from Callie who smiled at usual.

“That was an amazing speech Marie!” Her voice filled with excitement. “I didn’t even know you had prepared one!” She would squeak.

Her cousin would take a couple of breaths before responding.

“I… i hadn’t…” she would say. “Those were my true feelings.” Marie told her much, to Callie’s shock since the green squid wasn’t exactly known for showing how she felt.

“I knew you always had it in you, yo!” Pearl would say to Marie as she walked up and smacked her back gently earning her a small glare from the taller cuttlefish.

Agent 3 would arm her trusty heroshot and look at her fellow agents.

“Come on people. Let’s get locked and loaded. We have a city to save.” She would say while Agent 4 and 8 prepared their personal weapons and gear too.

Marina, who would currently be analysing the defence grid of the walls, looked up.

“If my scans are correct, there should be some weak points and lightly guarded entrances here, here and here.” She would say, pointing to three different points of the map her computer screen showed.

Marie would look at the schematics and think about how they should proceed with the attack.

“Marina? Would it be possible that one of these entrances would lead to the Deep Sea Metro?” She would ask.

The squid sister would look at the screen once more to make sure she had gotten everything.

“If we get in from there, we should be able to arrive at the square; we could get a swift victory out of this.”

Marina would think about it before typing on her keyboard to get some data while the others waited for the results.

Soon after she would look back at her fellow agents with a smile.

“There is! It seems like it’s not heavily guarded too.” The tall octoling told her, making Marie nod.

“Alright then. 8. You know the metro better than any of us. Would you be able to lead an attack force underground?”

The second octoling agent would look a bit traumatized by the mention of the place that had made her life a living nightmare.

Marie would immediately kick herself mentally for asking her such a question even with the knowledge of how much she hated the place.

“Sorry Masumi… Noriko, you will lead the underground attack. Alaine, Callie and Pearl will lead the frontal attack while Marina takes care of strategizing. I will try to take out any leaders I find.”

Marie explained the plan with the utmost serious tone she could make to make sure sure that nothing would slip past anyone’s ears.

The other agents would nod, making her express her iconic smirk.

“Alright. Let’s do this!” Callie would cheer as she jumped up slightly with a fist pump.

Marie would nod and look to the cephalopods waiting for orders.

“Squids and Octos! MOVE OUT!” She would shout and receive even more cheers from the crowd.

Approximately two hours later, Agent 3 would be walking in the Deep Sea metro along with her soldiers.

“Keep your guard up. These tunnels are treacherous.” She would tell her troops who would nod before a sound would be heard.

Some of her soldiers would speak up. Nervousness clear in some voices.

“Uh… Ma’am? What’s the plan?” one would ask.

“We… we’ll take back the city, defeat Tartar and his sanitized… Then we will start to rebuild.” 3 would respond while trying to control a fear which she only felt down here.

“That sounds like it will be very dangerous and take a long time…” another one would say in a sombre tone.

She would sigh and look at them. “It’s war soldier… nothing is easy… but we have to do this if we want to secure a future for our children and the next generation… one better than… this…”

“Understood ma’am. But… are these tunnels really as dangerous as they say?”

3 would be about to explain when she heard something, making her ears perk up and shush her soldiers while the squid they belonged to started looking around before signalling the soldiers to seek cover.

Not a second after she had done it, bright red beams would start to fly at them and hit a few of her men who fell to the ground and exploded into ink puddles.

“Get down! Hostiles engaging!”

With those words all hell broke loose as both sides started to open fire and soon the tunnels would be filled with shouts and confused yells.

“What is this?! It’s not ink!”

“I’m hit! I’m hit!”

“Lasers! They have lasers!”

The screams of terror from her soldiers would make 3’s ink start to boil at the sanitized even more and soon the agent would jump out of cover.

“Come on Noriko… come on you can do this… You’re Agent freaking 3 damn it! And you WILL protect this city!” She would say before charging in.

Lasers would fly at her from the darkness of the metro but missed their intended target who dodged out of the way before blasting one with ink, earning the sound of someone getting splatted.

“Come on people! Charge!” She would shout and would soon be followed by her soldiers who had regained their courage after their leader charged in.

As Noriko and her soldiers charged, they would come under fire from their so far unseen enemy until the rumbling of hundreds of charging cephalopods came charging out of the dark.

Before reaching their foe, 3 would let out a battle cry. “FOR INKOPOLIS!” the agent roared right as the two factions clashed together with a thundering crash.

If hell hadn’t broken loose already, it was clear as day that it had now; the Sanitized and Resistance soldiers alike decided to forego firing their weaponry completely, instead opting to use them as crude, blunt cudgels to bludgeon their foes with. The ensuing melee was pure chaos and bloody devastation.

Grunts of pain and screams of rage would fill the tunnels as weapons made contact with armour and body alike, followed by cursing and sometimes pleads of mercy before an occasional splat or two as the soldiers fought with beak and nail.

In the middle of the fighting Agent 3 would take down sanitized after sanitized, being more experienced in the art of melee combat than her foes due to years of being an agent and fighting against the octarians.

Out of nowhere a fist would come flying at the squid who barely dodged the blow after seeing it out of the corner of her eye, before looking at who had tried to strike her down.

Out of the brawl, a masked sanitized soldier would come walking, dragging a knocked-out Resistance soldier while coldly staring at her, his face concealed by a gasmask.

The sanitized would drop the now conscious Resistance soldier on the floor before putting a foot on the freedom fighters head and instantly crush it like a melon.

Three would of course had tried to run towards the sanitized to save her soldier but would stop dead in her tracks with a gasp and stare in horror at what she just witnessed.

Noriko had never in her life witnessed such cold and raw brutality. In an instant a young and promising squid or octopus had their life taken in one of the most horrifying ways she could have imagined and soon she would feel something warm running down her cheeks. She was crying. Something she hadn’t done in years.

The agent would try to regain her composure but the sheer horror of witnessing the execution had her trembling like never before.

“Don’t give up…” a small voice in her head would tell her. “Don’t give in to despair. Keep fighting. Avenge the fallen and take back our home.” The voice kept encouraging her in the same way Capt. Cuttlefish had all those years when she first was recruited in the plaza.

Hearing the captains voice had given the agent her self-confidence back, making her suppress her emotions to fight the sanitized.

“You won’t get away with th-“ _WHAM!_ Before Noriko had even managed to finish her sentence, an ironclad fist struck her square in the jaw, knocking the squid out cold in an instant.

“Breaking off…” What was that sound? “All units! Fire!” There it was again.

Three would blink a couple of times. What had happened? Where was she? “Jorge! Pick a target dammit!” Noriko tried to sit up but would be struck by pain in her jaw which instantly reminded her of what happened.

The voices… it wasn’t something coming from her head. The squid immediately focused listening to the voices from her headphones but what she saw made her gasp in horror.

Fire. The entire sky would be red like fire making the agent able to only stare in horror all while desperate radio transmissions flooded her headphones.

“There’s too many sarge!” “Watch your flank Mako!” “Someone cover me! I have two injured here!” “We can’t hold! They’re breaking through!” “This is madness!” “I wanna go home! I WANNA-“ “Captain HELP US!” “WHERE’S OUR REINFORcements!.....”

Noriko sat traumatized. What had happened? How long was she out? Where was her fellow agents? Her family!

“Do you hear them fleshbag? The screams of the inferior. Down and dying amongst their own filth as the vermin they are.”

A raspy and muffled voice would snap the squid out of her thoughts and make her turn around to see a sanitized walking towards her.

Her instincts made her reach out for her heroshot but she would only grasp thin air, making her look around confused until she saw it. Held in the clenched fist of the enemy soldier was her weapon. This was no normal sanitized. It was the very same who had knocked her out.

“You were fated to lose.” The soldier would continue to mock her. “You could never win against the glory of our emperor. You are worthless. Nothing.”

Three would be clenching her head while trying to keep out the horrified screams of her kin and focusing on a strategy while her foe approached.

“Give up filth. You never had a place here. Especially your DISGUSTING splatoon.”

That would be the last straw for Noriko. No one insulted her family.

“Shut. The hell. UP!” The squid would scream in pure rage and throw a punch at the sanitized only for her fist to be caught mid-air, making her gasp in shock and pain as the he started to twist her arm.

“You failed fleshbag. And now… I will relieve you of your burden.” With that he would pull, resulting in a sickening ripping sound as her arm came off followed instantly by an ear-piercing scream from Noriko who now clenched the gaping wound where her arm had been a moment before. “One limb at a time…” The sanitized would say in an eerily cold voice as he dropped the now severed arm.

Three who would be trying to ignore the pain and stop the bleeding would soon feel her other arm being forcefully forced to the ground by the soldiers armoured boot, making her unable to move it and made her start panicking as the last bit of her courage crumbled. She started to scream and kick like a wild animal in an attempt to get the sanitized off of her arm.

“Stop screaming!” the soldier shouted as he for the first time showed emotion. Rage. “This build CHARACTER!” with that he would stomp down at the base of her second arm, severing it in an instant causing Noriko to howl in excruciating pain. “Even if it cost you an arm or two.”

Three had never felt or looked this helpless before. Her second arm twitching slightly before going limb. “P-please… stop…” The squid would whimper as tears started to swell up and run down her cheeks.

“I am not done yet fleshbag. Your punishment shall and will be seve-“ _BOOM_

Noriko looked up after the sanitized’s speech had ended abruptly. Where there before had been a gasmask was now a gaping hole as the body fell to the ground.

From a building a familiar silhouette would appear running towards her with a charger.

“Three! Where have you been?! I tried to…Oh my Cod… NORIKO! What happened to you?!” Marie would go from her usual calm demeanour into a panic as she started to sprint to her fellow agent.

Once she reached Noriko, Marie called for backup while trying to stop the bleeding. “CALLIE! FOUR! I NEED YOU ASAP! THREE IS DOWN!” the squid sister yelled into her earpiece.

Three would breathe heavily as her vision began to darken out of sheer pain and loss of ink.

“Marie… everyone… forgive me…” She would say before losing consciousness just as Elaine and Callie showed up.

“What happened to her?!” 4 would shriek as she saw the condition her friend was in.

Marie would look back at the yellow squid and her cousin, her lip quivering and eyes swelling with tears as she saw and took in the horrors around her. What she had expected to be a swift victory had turned into something worse than she could have imagined. This wasn’t a defeat. It was a SLAUGTHER.

“Doesn’t matter Elaine! Just get her and as many as you can to sa-“ _BOOM_

Marie would get interrupted and knocked down before she could finish. She collapsed the ground screaming in agony while holding a hand over her eye; lime green ink started to flow through her fingers.

Callie would sprint towards her cousin, worried beyond words as she threw herself to the ground beside her; she screamed her name as 4 closely followed behind her.

“Marie! Hang in there!” She wailed as she helped her cousin sit up. Marie would quickly push her, away just as a shot from a charger impacted where the pink cuttlefish had been a moment before.

“Don’t worry about me! Just run!” Marie bellowed at the two as she hauled her cousin up, who started running. Marie got to her feet, and quickly ran with them. But not for long.

_BOOM_

Marie would let out an agonized scream as another charger shot took off her leg and made her fall to the ground. She would grab the stump and squeezed it tight as ink spurted from the open wound.

When Callie saw her cousin fall to the ground, the world would stand still before her as she turned around while screaming her name in desperation.

“MARIE!!!!” The pink cuttlefish howled in a nearly broken voice while dashing back to Marie who would be writhing in pain on the ground.

“I said RUN! GET OUT OF HERE!” the former idol would scream at her cousin to stop her from running back into danger.

“Callie!” Four screamed at her fellow agent, “WE GOTTA GO!”

Callie refused to listen to both of them and kept running back “I’m not leaving you here!” she bellowed and had nearly reached her cousin when suddenly she would be knocked into a wall by a roller, shattering her hero suit.

Marie would scream in horror at what she saw and tried to crawl over to her cousin only to feel something stepping down on her back, making her look up with her remaining eye.

“Going somewhere fleshbag?” the raspy, hissing voice from a sanitized inkling would say as they looked down at the agent, face concealed by the gasmask all Dominion soldiers wore.

The sanitized would chuckle darkly as more of their comrades showed up. “You know… This attack wasn’t much of a surprise… In fact… our glorious emperor saw it coming years ago…”

The lime green inkling could do nothing but stare at the soldier. First in shock, then quickly confusion, and finally dread. Everything they had done in those two years, everything they had planned and prepared… all for nothing.

“The game was rigged from the start scum. It’s time to die…” The soldier would say, pointing its weapon at the cuttlefish’s head. But then, a small pause? Of mercy. Not at all; “But first… I’ll help you with your… problem…”

Marie screamed in agony as the blast ripped through her other leg, sending it spiralling off to the side with a spurt of ink.

Hearing Marie scream was enough to make a certain yellow squid stop and turn around, to watch with pure horror which soon turned into rage. She dropped the unconscious Noriko and charged towards her target.

“DON’T YOU DARE! GET OFF OF HER YOU MONSTER!” Elaine roared at the top of her lungs before tackling Marie’s would be executioner who fell to the ground with a grunt as the agent started using her bare fists to pummel them.

Marie would be in a state of shock seeing Agent 4 doing this and would be about to shout for her to look out since she was on gunpoint, but to both her relief and horror, the two other Dominion troopers just… stood there and watched.

“They won’t even help a brother or sister in arms when they need help…?”

The green cuttlefish would think and went pale by just thinking about what Tartar could have done to turn them into what was on the borderline of being an automaton.

It wouldn’t be long before Elaine got overpowered by the sanitized, who got her into a full nelson and hold the aggressive, struggling squid who threw all sorts of colourful curses at them.

“Despite your colour being one of fear you are very brave… foolishly brave…”

The soldier would tighten their hold on the agent to make sure she didn’t escape before speaking up again.

“But let me tell you something goldilocks… I. Hate. Yellow.”

Suddenly a beeping sound would come from the soldier, which would make Marie’s ink freeze as Marina and Masumi had told her about it and she started to scream.

“ELAINE! GET OUT OF THERE! IT’S A BOMB!” She would shriek which made the younger squids face go from rage to pure unbridled fear

The agent started struggling desperately to get out of the sanitized’s grip who only chuckled darkly.

“Goodbye… fleshbag…” They would say as the bomb grew on their back to the brink of exploding.

Agent 4 would look over at Marie for whom the world stood still for and saluted her quickly as a tear ran down her eyes while mouthing the words “I love you” before the bomb exploded in a shower of putrid green ink.

Marie would once again stare in absolute horrified shock with tears slowly running down her cheek, as Elaine’s body was blown into the air and landed, charred by the sanitized ink.

Marie would be about to scream again before getting hit in the head with the butt of a gun, knocking her out cold.

“Too easy… these fleshbags are weak.” One of the sanitized troopers would say to his comrade who nodded in agreement. “Where was the fun in t-“ Before being able to finish, he would get splatted by pink ink.

The dominion soldier who didn’t get splatted would dive out of the way and look up, only to get met with the butt of an octoshot straight to gasmask lens, knocking him down once more.

“Stay away from my family!” Masumi would scream at the surviving soldier before pointing her gun at him and get ready to shoot.

As the octoling approached her foe, she would stop momentarily, before letting out a shriek as the soldier grabbed her and rammed her against the wall, making the cracked lens fall out to reveal the eye underneath.

What Agent 8 saw made her gasp in terror; instead of the usual green which sanitized had, this would be pitch black with a blood red iris in the middle burning with only one thing. Pure unbridled hatred and contempt.

Suddenly everything went black and Masumi let out a shriek of pain as… what ever in the world this thing was jammed its thumbs into her eyes, blinding her.

The octoling would desperately try to get free to no avail. It was almost as if this… thing had inhuman strength.

“You little piece of…” The… thing kept pressing its thumbs into her eyes earning an even more painful scream from the octoling. “Prepare to meet you-“ before finishing, he would be smacked away by a roller.

“Don’t… even think… about it…” Callie who had woken up a moment prior had been able to save her fellow agent just in time and would quickly run over to Masumi who was currently covering what was left of her eyes with her hands.

“W-who’s there?! Stay away! STAY AWAY!” the blind octoling would cry as she wildly flailed her arms around which Callie tried to dodge. “Masumi! It’s me Callie!” She would say and gently hold one of her hands.

The octoling agent would stop as her lip started to quiver and she squeezed the pink cuttlefish’s hand “C-callie… I’m scared…” She would say, on the verge of crying.

“Shhh, shhh, it’s gonna be alright,,, I’m here…” Callie would tell the octoling while trying to comfort her before taking a look around with teary eyes. So many people… lives lost for nothing… nothing more than a meaningless slaughter…

“We can’t win this… we have to fall back…” She would whisper before pressing her earpiece.

“Noriko who had woken up in pain would hear Callie’s voice in her headphones.

“To any remaining members of the resistance, this is Callie! We cannot win this, I repeat we cannot win! We must retreat! RUN! ANYONE WHO CAN HEAR ME RU-“ the order for retreat was cut off by a pained scream.

This would be the last thing the veteran agent would hear as she looked up at the blood red skies with tears streaming down her eyes. “Everyone… forgive me…” she whispered before passing out.

“We have found them… they’re all heavily injured… get them back to base before it’s too late…”


	2. Chapter 2: Recovering

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A more lighthearted chapter after the first one. Once again i would like to thank MyNameIsMarkus for helping me write this!

**Chapter 2: Recovering**

“We should rush in headlong with guns blazing! Boom!” Pearl would say and slam her fist down on her table, making the small figurines on it jump.

Marina would sigh and pick up the pieces again before placing them in their locations again while Callie tried to suck up some pepsi which the stocky inkling also had spilled all over the table, also earning her a glare from Marie.

“We can’t just charge directly in there Pearl. We are only seven people against who knows how many sanitized inklings and octolings.” The lime green cuttlefish told her.

Callie would stop trying to suck up the spilt soda and look at her Off the Hook counterpart.

“She’s right you know. We need more than just the New Squidbeak Splatoon to win this. We need an army.” She told the group who started to look at her. “What?” she asked her friends.

Marie would look down at the table. “You’re right Callie… as much as I hate to say this… we need to go to war… from this day on we are no longer the New Squidbeak Splatoon… We are. The Inkopolis Resistance.”

Pearl would then jump up on the table and yell at the top of her lungs, making the others cover their ears in a mix of surprise and instinct.

“ALRIGHT YOU DANG TELEPHONE! TIME TO FACE THE POWER OF THE INKOPOLIS RESISTANCE!!!!”

Everything would be dark… Noriko would groan slightly at the memory.

Suddenly a hissing pain and the sound of bubbling knocked her out of her dream. Everything would be blurry as she tried looking around and talk but would only barely hear muffled words.

“T-tartar! Everyone! Where are they?!” She would panic and try to move her arms to get a sense of her environment. But something would be wrong. Her arms, they wouldn’t react and suddenly she was hit with the realisation; her arms were gone.

Agent 3 would feel tears swell up in her eyes as she looked at the stumps of her arms through the healing liquid she was currently placed in which while easing the pain, it wouldn’t remove it or be able to ever regrow her arms.

“D-did we win? I… I can’t remember…” The squid would think before looking forward and notice two familiar faces. Marina and Pearl, both waving smiling and in Marinas case, crying in joy and relief.

“Pearl… Marina… They’re alive!” Three would cry out in joy but would notice her two friends pointing next to her, making her slightly confused but decided to look anyways, making her gasp in a mix of horror and relief.

In the tank to her left was Elaine. Severely burned but alive, with Masumi next to her, and to Noriko’s right were the Squid Sisters. But their condition made her gasp once more. Marie, the sassy yet beautiful and calm cuttlefish had no legs and Callie, poor sweet and innocent Callie had literally been scalped.

Noriko screamed in horror at the ghastly sight, starting thrashing wildly in the tank as the surviving idol duo looked on.

They yelped in shock at how lively the agent had just gotten and pressed a button on the console, slowly draining the fluid from the tank containing her.

Noriko could feel herself sink as the liquid drained, softly caught by Marina before she slammed onto the ground after Off the Hook opened the tank. Her thrashing ceased, her energy spend and her pain obscene.

“Easy Noriko, you were through a rough battle… you are in no condition to stand.” Marina told her friend who coughed as the breather got taken off her face.

“W-what happened to them? Are they ok? Are they alive?!” She would ask in a panicked tone as she looked at the tanks containing her friends.

Marina would slowly look away from her fellow agent, a small tear falling from the octolings eye and Pearl being unusually quiet.

“They’re alive but… they barely made it… dismemberment, burns, internal injuries…” Marina slowly whispered while fighting to hold back her tears that had started to swell up in her eyes.

Noriko looked at her friends when suddenly two questions popped up in her mind; how long had it been since she passed out? And were there any more survivors?

She would be about to speak up but would be stopped by Pearl who kneeled down to the taller agent.

“We know what you think Noriko… and… It isn’t good news at all…”

“H-how long was I out?” She tried to steel herself for the answers the best she could but had great difficulty due to the pain where her arms used to be.

“Five months… it’s been five months since the attack Three.” The other inkling said, making Noriko’s jaw drop in pure shock.

“B-but… survivors! What about survivors?!” she said and regretted that decision soon after as Marina explained the situation.

“We… lost many… too many… of the ten thousand who followed us, not even two hundred made it back alive… nearly seven thousand KIA… almost two thousand MIA…” the tall octoling said, finally not being able to hold her tears back which now flowed freely.

Agent Three laid on the floor speechless, tears slowly swelling up in her eyes once more as memories from the battle started to resurface in her mind.

“Then… we have truly lost…” she sniffled as the inklings tears started to flow down her cheeks, making Marina put a hand on her head and stroke it slowly for comfort.

“Shhh… we haven’t lost entirely yet… as long as we hold on to hope we can keep fighting, but giving up on hope is when we truly lose…” The octoling said attempting to comfort Noriko.

Pearl would rise up and look at the two “’Rina’s right yo, we might have lost the battle, but this war is far from over.” The short idol said as some of her more bombastic personality returned.

Agent 3 would attempt to stand up with the support of Marina. “But… we’re severely undermanned… and our equipment… it, it was nearly useless!” she said as she remembered clear as day how their soldiers had little to no protection against the dominion weaponry.

To this comment Pearl huffed slightly “What do you think we were doing the time you were out yo? Twiddling our thumbs? Heck no! In the past few months ‘Rina and I have tried to keep the resistance together and upgraded our stuff!”

“W-what? But how-“ Noriko would get interrupted by the sound of a slight knocking and looked back at the tanks. Masumi had awoken.

Noriko would be overjoyed seeing the octoling having woken up, but that joy was instantly replaced by pure fear and horror as soon as Masumi opened her eyes, revealing two empty eye sockets and promptly earning a scream from the green squid.

“What the bloody hell?!” She howled at the top of her lungs, startling Masumi who looked around in a panicked state as Marina went over to empty the tank and catch the smaller octoling before she hit the ground while Pearl tied a bind around her head to protect the eye sockets.

“W-what happened? Where am I? anyone?” Agent Eight asked in a frightened tone as she tried to use her hands to feel the environment around her and managed to grab one of Marina’s tentacles.

Marina would gently put a hand on Masumi’s “It’s ok Masumi, you’re safe.” She would say to her fellow octoling who was shaking in a mix of cold and fear while Pearl found blankets.

“M-marina? Pearl? Noriko? W-where are you? I can’t see!” the poor octoling would say as tears started to stain the bind slightly as she got pulled into a hug.

Noriko would stand up and walk over to her octoling counterpart while using one of her tentacles to gently stroke her head and hug her with the other.

“Masumi I… It’s all my fault… your beautiful eyes… gone. If I hadn’t been so foolish none of this would have happened.” The inkling said through sobs, not noticing movement in two of the other tanks.

Pearl on the other hand would notice and break the silence by announcing it.

“Hey guys? I think Cal and Mar are waking up, yo!” she said and walked over to the tanks containing the squid sisters who had shown signs on slight movement.

The first of the original idol duo to wake up would be Callie who looked around just as confused Noriko had before noticing her legless cousin, making he scream and slam into the other end of her tank.

“O-oh dear! Hold on Callie!” Marina said as she quickly went over and drained the tank of its liquid, resulting in the pink cuttlefish sitting at its bottom with her back pressed against the glass and hyperventilating.

The octoling idol pressed a button, opening the tank containing Callie who slowly crawled out while shivering and trying to look away from her still unconscious cousin next to her.

“Thank the great zapfish you’re safe Callie. We were-“ Marina wouldn’t be able to finish before said cuttlefish bombarded her with questions as soon as her breather was removed.

“Where are we?! How long has passed? Is Marie ok!?!??!” the former idol said as she grabbed Marina by the shirt, shaking her back and forth while said octoling attempted to explain everything while also supressing the nausea created by being shaken like a ragdoll.

“W-w-we a-are a-at the main b-b-base!” she managed to blubber to Callie before passing out, just before the squid sister stopped shaking upon realizing what she was doing to poor Marina.

“Ah! I’m so sorry Marina!” the cuttlefish would squeak and hug the octoling, before out of instinct checking for a heartbeat which clearly was there much to her relief.

“Mommy I don’t feel so good…” Marina would say and somehow look and sound a bit like a doofus, after having experienced what it feels like to be in a cocktail bottle.

Callie being the good natured and kind squid she was, would keep apologizing until she heard a snicker coming from Pearl much to her confusion “What?” she asked the stocky inkling.

“I-I’m sorry… but I just can’t take you that serious when you’re bald.” Pearl would say while trying to suppress her own laughter but would stop as soon as she saw the glare the cuttlefish shot her.

“Oh… uh… I…” the small inkling would say as Callie approached her in what could only be described as tranquil fury, making even the currently blind Masumi sweat in fear.

“W-what is this scary feeling?” the agent would ask Noriko who was the one closest to her.

“Just Pearl who might have accidentally hit a button…” the veteran agent would gulp as she hugged Masumi with her tentacles, who in return hugged her back.

“Do you know what I do to people who makes fun of me after having nearly been scalped Pearl?” Callie said to her Off the Hook counterpart, who seemed to be on the brink of running for it until she was backed into a corner.

“I-I don’t think I do?” she said nervously before yelping and bursting out with laughter, as the taller idol started to tickle her “I give them a taste of my tickle attack!” the cuttlefish would giggle, much to everyone’s relief. Thank the Zapfish she still was as positive as ever.

Pearl would be on the ground in tears while laughing her head off “Callie! Hahaha! S-stop! I c-haha!-can’t breathe!” She would say, while desperately trying to keep her most ticklish spots away from Callie.

The ruckus would attract some attention from outside the room, as a few inklings and octolings peeked inside and revealed their presence by gasping in shock at seeing most of their leaders finally being awake.

“They’re awake?” “Are our eyes deceiving us?” could be heard, making the agents in the room turn their head towards the small crowd. Well except Marina who still was out cold and babbling something in octarian.

“We are indeed awake! In the flesh!” Callie would giggle at the crowd who would soon walk inside of the room just to make sure their eyes weren’t playing tricks on them.

“It’s a miracle… it’s an octarian squidmas bloody miracle!” a squid would say in jubilation soon followed by other comments of relief and joy with a few even crying.

Callie would of course be slightly overwhelmed at being swarmed like this considering she had only gotten out of her tank a few minutes ago, but would freeze up as she heard knocking behind her and looked backwards to one of the tanks.

Marie would be knocking on the glass cylinder containing her with an expression on her face which could only translate to “Would you quiet down out there?”

“Marie!” the pink cuttlefish would squeal in joy and dash over to the tank where her cousin currently resided and put a hand on the glass separating them, with Marie doing the same as a medic started to drain the tank so the two could be reunited.

It wouldn’t be long before the lime cuttlefish was embraced by her cousin in a hug complete, with tears of joy from them both. “I was worried sick about you Marie!” Callie would say while bawling her eyes out.

Marie who would be equally overjoyed to see her cousin alive, would have a true and genuine smile plastered on her face. That was until she got a proper look at Callie and noticed her missing tentacles which turned her smile into a frown of shock and widened eyes or in her case eye.

“W-what happened to your tentacles?!” the squid sister would shriek as this was the first time, she had seen Callie being well bald.

Callie would be a bit hesitant to tell her green counterpart but would give in since she couldn’t lie to her.

“After you passed out I… was ambushed by a group of sanitized… I tried holding them off so they wouldn’t hurt you. I did my best, until one of them got the drop on me…” the idol would pause as she tried to remember what happened.

“I didn’t even notice before I felt them pulling in my tentacles… they managed to make me lose my balance and then… I can’t describe the pain when they started tearing them off…” Callie’s lip would quiver slightly at the painful memory.

“We found her unconscious with… I don’t even know how to describe it… but it looked like her head had gotten cauterized after having her tentacles removed… they won’t grow back… permanently…” Pearl would say after having recovered.

Marie would stare in quiet shock and look back at her cousin. Her beautiful hair, gone forever because of that cursed telephone. The squid sister could feel something starting to boil inside of her; Rage.

Outside of the room a inkling and octoling would come walking by when suddenly hearing what sounded like shouts coming from the medical bay and the sight coming out would be, shocking to say the least.

Marie would be trying to crawl out of the room, all while dragging what looked like about a dozen of cephalopods behind her while protesting. “LET ME GO! I NEED TO GO BACK AND TURN THAT CURSED MACHINE INTO SCRAP METAL!” the cuttlefish roared at the top of her lungs.

“Ma’am come to your senses! If ten thousand of us couldn’t even get near him, then you can’t either! Especially in your condition!” a soldier would beg as he and the other pile of squids and octopi somehow got dragged along the floor.

“I DON’T CARE! GET OFF!” Marie hollered and kept dragging herself with unusual strength, until Callie ran in front of her and stopped her cousin in her tracks.

“Marie! Please don’t do this! It’s suicide and not worth it!” she would squeak as she sat on her knees in front of her counterpart

“B-but your hair-“, Marie would be interrupted by a very unexpected slap from her cousin.

“It’s nothing compared to what you lost! Look at you! You are in much worse shape than I am!” Callie said with the most serious glare and tone anyone had ever seen from her. “Can’t you see what you’re doing is selfish?! You might have a good intention, but did you ever stop to think about what others might think!?”

Marie who was still trying to recover from the slap and being chewed out like this would try to protest but got interrupted by Callie once again.

“How do you think I would feel if you just die pointlessly? Or what Elaine would think!? She was more than willing to give up her own life just to save yours! And this is how you repay her?!” Callie would say through tears of both anger and sadness.

Her cousin would be at a loss of words after hearing the words of her cousin and started to think back at what happened.

Elaine had saved her life at the last moment by tackling her would be killer and had nearly paid the ultimate price for it after said soldier had detonated themselves while having Agent 4 in their grip.

The memory coupled with Callie’s words and the memories in Octo Canyon when she met Elaine for the first time, and how she had done everything Marie had told her to do without protesting when sending the yellow squid on life threatening missions to save her beloved cousin, even if it had nothing to do with her, started to bring the idol to tears.

“I’m sorry…” the green cuttlefish whispered as Callie embraced her once more while the tears flowed freely from her cousin who kept apologizing over and over.

“I’m sorry… I’m so, so sorry…” Marie hiccupped as her counterpart comforted her with soothing words “I’m sorry for being so selfish…” she would say after finally having gotten some sense knocked into her.

“It’s ok Marie, it’s ok… I was just worried that… that you would disappear… I can’t bear the thought of that… not after we just reunited again…”

The squid sister would look back at Callie once more “I promise… I promise that I will be more considerate…” she said while still being in tears and embraced by her cousin who would finally start smiling once more.

“I’m so glad… I’m so glad you finally came back to your senses…” the pink cuttlefish whispered and looked over the shoulder of her cousin before noticing movement in the last tank.

“Marie… look…” she would gently whisper to her counterpart who at first would be confused but decided to look in the same direction as Callie and gasp in shock once more at what she saw.

Elaine had opened her eyes and was looking around with visible and understandable confusion of what was currently going on around her, but would wince in pain the moment she tried to move more than her eyes around.

Marie would be brought over to the yellow squid and placed in a wheelchair without taking looking away from Agent 4 and place her hand on the glass cylinder.

“Four…” she would whisper as she observed the still mostly charred body of Elaine which was covered in burns and scars “I’m sorry… you being like this… it’s all my fault…” she said as guilt started to build up inside of her.

Elaine would try to shake her head but would once more wince in pain at the attempt of moving around even the slightest.

“The bomb caused severe damage to her current body… burns from the explosion itself and scars from primordial ink similar to acid. We don’t know when she will be able to get out of the tank, if ever.” One of the medics in the room said, much to the horror of Marie.

“Are you saying… she won’t be able to ever exit the tank?” the agent would say and hope the answer wouldn’t be what she feared.

The medic would look at the ground but would force herself to speak. “I’m sorry… but from the looks of the injuries, the chances of her body giving up upon removal from the tank out of sheer pain is 80%” she told the idol.

Marie would look in disbelief. “Isn’t there anything we can do to save her from a fate like this? She can’t live like that!” she would say, as she couldn’t stand the thought of one having to live permanently in a tank of healing liquids, especially one she held as close as Elaine.

The inkling adjusted her glasses and looked at a tablet. “There is one option currently. But it’s very risky and only-“ before finishing she would get interrupted by the cuttlefish.

“What is it?! Tell me!” she would say as the medic spoke up again. “While you were in coma, we build something… a body of an android and have experimented with transferring of consciousness.”

The idol would get a hopeful look in her eye “Does this mean that she will be able to be with us without having her body leaving the tank?” she asked.

The medic cleared her throat before replying. “Yes, but the chances of success are only 50% if it fails, her entire personality and consciousness will be erased… are you willing to take that risk?”

Marie looked back to Agent 4 who slowly nodded back to her with what was probably a small smile under her breather.

“If she’s willing to take the risk, then so am I.” she told the medic who nodded and headed towards the wall of the room, before pressing a button to reveal the android body.

“Then we must act with utmost haste.” The doctor would tell the two agents “Marina? If you would please assist?” the inkling asked the octoling idol, who had finally woken up from the shaking she received not so long ago.

The tall octoling would look back at her two fellow agents before asking “Are you 100% sure about this? The price could be one you’ll regret the rest of your life.” She said in a worried tone.

Elaine would nod from her tank and look at Marina, who sighed slightly “Ok… well, let’s hope this works.” She said as she started to press different buttons and turn some dials, making a couple of wires attach themselves to the squid’s head.

“Beginning transfer of consciousness now.” The octoling announced as she pressed a button, sending energy through the wires while Marie looked back at Agent 4 and smiled.

“See you soon Elaine.” The idol said and pecked the glass, as Elaine’s vision started to black out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> constructive criticism is always welcome!


	3. Monsters from another world

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Following the defeat at Inkopolis, a lone soldier travels through No Squids Land and run into someone unexpected

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again i would like to thank my friend MyNameIsMarkus for helping me write this!

** Chapter 3: Monsters from another world **

Escape. He needed to get as far away from that place as possible no matter the cost.

The lone soldier stumbled through the wreckage, half-blinded, agonise. It had been days since the attack on the Reef had happened. A disaster for his faction, the once mighty Inkopolis Resistance, scattering them across the lands as the survivors had panicked and ran after the order of retreat was given.

This area, a bombed, desolate crater filled with barbed wire and the only life being carrion eaters circling between the two factions, No Squids Land. How long had he been stuck there, trying to ache his way out of this hell? He had only one thing on his mind; escape. Run as far as way as possible.

Suddenly a red light flew over his head, making him look back and gasp in horror “There it is! Don’t let it escape!” a dominion soldier would shout. They had found him once again and he did the only thing he could do. Run.

“Do not let it escape! Bring back its head to the emperor!” The sanitized bellowed as he ran with lasers barely missing him until one got his leg, making him yelp in pain as he stumbled and rolled down a crater.

As he reached the bottom of the crater thoughts were running through his head. “No... This can’t be it... I-I don’t want to die here, I want to LIVE!” the soldier would think as he attempted to crawl away, only to feel something step down on his back hard.

“Going anywhere fleshbag?” the sanitized sergeant said with a fowl smile as he pointed his gun at the soldier. “Well guess what? You are only going one place... the emperor’s throne room...”

“Nonono... not like this... not like this!” the survivor would think as he tried to delay the inevitable and closed his eyes as a gunshot was heard.

The soldier opened his eyes as he felt the weight on his back disappear before hearing a thud and looked over his shoulder. The head of the sanitized had exploded, but what could have caused this?

“Are you Fffffffuuuucking kidding me? Why is it always me who get send on these missions?” A somehow familiar voice would say followed by another, more timid voice 

“Well, we are only a handful you know? And you’re the most capable fighter of us all.” the timid voice said, one with what could only be described as a southern accent and a strong stench of alcohol.

“The pipsqueak is right ya know? We-” the voice of... whoever spoke was interrupted by a burp “-Are only a small handful.”

How could these voices be so familiar? It couldn’t be them could it?

Out of the mist came three figures, making the soldiers jaw drop. It was none other than the Squid Sisters and Marina... but something was off about them.

Marie, instead of wearing her usual agent suit was wearing what could only without a doubt be wearing a leather jacket and goggles, Callie was would be wearing some sort of coat and... had a robotic hand? And Marina well, she was the one stinking of cheap booze.

“W-what the...?” The soldier would whisper as he looked at them as what shocked him wasn’t the outfits but... their eyes, those damnable eyes were like knives piercing him. Hateful red, ghastly green and terrifying yellow which was enough to make him look away out of pure fear.

Marie or if this ‘thing’ even was Marie walked over and pressed some sort of metallic pipe against the soldier's head which still would be warm, making him suspect this was what had made the ‘boom’ sound earlier.

“Okay, pal here’s the score. We want some... information, about who you are, where WE are, and wherever or not you’re what we think. Now look at me” She growled and kicked his helmet after he refused “LOOK AT ME.” she yelled the last part, clearly meaning what she said.

“Marie, stop it! You’re scaring him! Can't you be a little... gentler?” Callie, or robo-Callie would tell her more violent cousin? He didn’t even know anymore at this point.

The red eyed Marie would look at the green-eyed Callie before speaking in a nearly hissing tone which would be even more scary than her already frightening tone.

“Ha! The day I decide to become ‘gentle’ ever again is the day I decide to have a kid!” she told the other cuttlefish in a sarcastic tone and threw an empty bullet jacket on the ground.

“Which is probably never if ah am correct.” the groups Marina would say who had found a flask and brought it to her mouth only to be blocked by the gasmasks they wore. “Ah crudbaskets...” she cursed.

The soldier was in shock, he could never have imagined hearing them be like this. Marie had never cursed or been this vile, Callie was constantly optimistic and filled with joy and Marina didn’t talk with this accent.

Suddenly he would feel his head being lifted up gently by cold metal as the green-eyed cuttlefish used her mechanical arm to do so and looked him straight in the eyes before letting go and taking a few steps backwards.

Suddenly something struck his mind directly. Pain. The most intense and burning pain he had ever experienced as if his brain had been set on fire, making him scream out in agony before desperately trying to tear off his helmet as he writhed on the ground.

“Make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!” He screamed as he finally managed to throw off his helmet and emptied his stomach or rather what was left in it before taking some deep breaths and looked into a small puddle but would end up yelping in shock as he saw his reflection.

His eyes had changed from their usual aqua-green to black and red. He had become one of those... things that were standing before him.

“Well, seems like we have another drone... Guess I owe you now.” This corrupt version of Marie would say, making the Corrupt version of Marina cheer.

“Yesssss! Ah just got five bucks!” she said while fistpumping and jumping into the air.

The green-eyed Callie walked over and helped him up gently. “Please come with us if you want to live.” She said in a soft tone which made him feel more at ease as they started to walk.

About an hour or so later the small group arrived at what could only be described as a bunker door which the red eyed Marie walked up to and opened with surprisingly small effort.

“Let’s get inside. I don’t want to be out here when the salmons arrive.” the corrupt squid sister said as she walked down the cave like hall of the bunker, closely followed by the drunken Marina and cyborg Callie who helped him walk.

Once they had entered, the door would get closed by the formerly green cuttlefish who gave him a glare after noticing the soldier looking at her “The hell are you looking at scrub?” she said, making him look away once more.

A few minutes later the soldier would be placed against a wall by the green-eyed Callie who looked at him with almost curiosity in her eyes before noticing the ink stains emerging on his suit caused by opened wounds.

“Oh dear... what happened to you?” the cuttlefish asked with worry in her voice as the soldier struggled to speak, making her put a mechanical hand on his shoulder “Don’t move. Let me help you” she said as she leaned him back against the wall and lifted her arms.

“Now, this might feel a bit... weird so brace yourself.” The former squid sister said as she started to glow, much to the shock and surprise of the soldier.

“What in the world are y-YIPE!” he wouldn’t be able to finish his sentence as a nearly ticklish sensation ran through him after being surrounded by an aura similar to hers, slowly making the pain disappear and heal his wounds.

The green cuttlefish sighed exhausted after she was done “There... you should be good as new now.” she said just before her red counterpart went over and picked him up by the collar.

“Now that that’s out of the way I have few questions. One, Where the hell are we? And second, What the hell did that to you? You looked like you were on the brink of dying.” she asked while glaring at him.

The soldier who was more or less scared out of his pants decided to answer her, since he probably wouldn’t live very long if he didn’t.

“Y-you’re in No Squids Land outside of Inkopolis.” he said as he struggled slightly in her grip before talking again. “I’m part of the Inkopolis Resistance if... it still even exists...” he told the red cuttlefish who just looked at him confused.

“The hell are you talking about?!” she yelled and slammed him against the wall “There is no such thing called the ‘Inkopolis Resistance’!” she hissed at him while glaring into what he felt was his very soul.

“T-there is here! We’re in the middle of a war against Tartar! You have to believe me!” he howled in pure terror as he tried to explain “The thing you shot earlier was a sanitized soldier from the Primordial Dominion!”

After mentioning yet another faction which was practically unknown for the red cuttlefish, she pulled out something of her pocket and pointed the end of a metal barrel against his head in what could only be described as pure rage.

“Aaargh, I'm losing my patience here! Look, pal... I don’t think you know who you’re messin’ with. We ain’t like those other squids. So speak in English, or Inklish... WHATEVER! Make some sense of the babble you’re on about, or we’re gonna have a problem!” the corrupted idol growled at him.

The soldier struggled once more in her grip while protesting “I am speaking the truth! Look, I don’t know if you’re from here or not, but Tartar have taken over Inkopolis!” he pleaded while the cuttlefish looked like she was about to get a twitch.

“THAT’S IT BUCKO! You’re dead meat!” the red eyed Marie yelled and was about to pull the trigger until a blue aura surrounded her and a familiar voice cut through the room.

“ **_ Put him down Marie. If you kill him, I'll make sure you will be... punished...” _ **

The corrupt cuttlefish got an expression on her face which would be a mix of disgust, anger and a slight amount of fear which soon turned into hatred.

“ Hng ! Don’t. Inter.  Fere . Pearl!” she hissed as the hand holding the gun trembled slightly while the stocky inkling entered the room seemingly normal except for one thing; her eyes instead of the normal golden, they would be like the ones of the other idols except this time they were blue.

**_ “Are you defying me Marie? Not a good idea…” _ ** the short idol said to the taller one who were trembling before getting a very uncomfortable smirk plastered on her face, freaking out the soldier.

**_ “Then why don’t you… shoot yourself in the foot since you love guns so much?” _ ** ’ the small inkling leered as the red cuttlefish seemed to struggle internally, almost as if something had possessed her.

Much to the horror of the soldier, Marie would obey and point the gun at her own foot.

“Y-yes… your majesty…” She said before firing, making her face cringe in pain and bite her lip to keep herself from screaming.

“W-what are you doing?! Why did you do that!?” the soldier screamed in terror as he didn’t think she would really shoot herself in the foot just because Pearl had told her to, before hitting the floor after the red idol let him go.

** “Good. Now go and get yourself patched up.” ** Pearl said and received a nod from Marie who limped over to her cousin, a trail of ink behind her.

The soldier looked from the injured idol to the one who had ordered her to injure herself in fear before finding enough courage to speak to the short inkling looking at him with those hideously piercing eyes.

“W-why? Why did you make her do that…? You two are supposed to be friends! Sisters in arms!” he would shout at her in a mix of fear and anger as the inkling approached him.

“My friend. You probably don’t understand… we are not from here… in fact… none of us are from the same universe at all…” she said in a tone which could send shivers down the nonexistent spine of every cephalopod who heard it.

The soldier would look at her with anger building up slowly “If that’s true, then what do you think the Marina of your universe would say if you saw this?” he would say before being sent a death glare scary enough that it probably could terrify death itself.

Suddenly the blue aura which surrounded Marie before would be on him, making him feel like something was trying to push itself into his consciousness, much to his shock and horror.

**_ “Why don’t you punch yourself in the face huh?” _ ** Pearl hissed in a tone that made her sound like a demon straight out of hell coming to reap souls.

“Like I’m going to do  th -“ the soldier would get cut off as his own fist gave him a right hook followed by a punch in the gut shortly after, knocking the air out of him.

**_ “Don’t. Ever. Mention. Her. Again.”  _ ** The idol hissed at him while glaring with a penance stare filled with cold, unbridled hatred before talking again  **_ “If you do… I’ll feed you to the  _ ** **_ Ferals _ ** **_. Got it?” _ ** she asked the soldier who was currently trying to catch his breath and fighting to keep control of himself.

Even when using  all of the willpower he had the soldier the soldier kneeled down and started to talk. “Yes, your majesty.” He would say to the stocky inkling before the blue aura disappeared from him, giving him control over his body again.

“W-what was that-“ he wouldn’t be able to finish before getting kicked in the nose by the blue idol, making him grab his now bleeding nose in pain as Pearl walked over and grabbed him by the collar of his suit.

“You listen here bub, if you EVER mention Marina again, I will make your existence hell on earth” she hissed and bared her fangs to him “Starting with biting off your  coddamn nose. Got it?” she said with venom in her voice.

The soldier could do nothing but nod as the ink ran through his fingers and fell onto the floor as he kept holding his nose in pain before the gremlin turned around and walked away.

“Remember this filth. I can take control of you on a whim whenever I wish. My word is law here got  it? Now, if you kindly would take our ‘guest’ to the main hideout, that would be lovely girls.” she said as she disappeared down a hallway.

As soon as the former idol had disappeared, the soldier was picked up by the green Callie who was also supporting her cousin “Come, let’s get you down to the hideout.” she told him as they began walking down the same hallway as Pearl had.

“W-what are you?” the soldier asked her as they went into the darkness of the lower parts of the  bunker, they were in.

“We’re Warmongers.” The green cuttlefish answered as they kept walking.

The newly created warmonger would look at her confused “W-warmongers?” he asked her as they entered what he assumed was a tunnel due to the light at the end of it.

“We’re here. Say hello to your new home.” Callie said as they arrived at the end of the tunnel to reveal something that looked like an underground town, much to the surprise of the soldier who just wondered who had built this and how they came down there without a road.

“Ah bet you’re wondering just how we will get down there.” Marina said as she sipped her flask and wiped her mouth “The answer is simple. We use the lift which ah have built.” the  octoling pointed at said lift coming towards them.

The new warmonger kept looking around in awe as he was helped onto the lift before it started  its descend down to the other side of the cavern where Pearl was standing and waiting for them.

“Welcome to your new home peasant.” the blue squid said as the soldier and the rest of the idols got out of the lift.

The small group of warmongers walked around with the newest addition looking around like a kid in a candy store as he once more took in the sight of the underground town while more people started to arrive from the small houses.

“How... how long have you been down here?” he asked Callie who looked at him as she tried to remember the date, they arrived in this crazy world before answering the question of their newest recruit.

“About five months to be exact.” the former idol answered, much to the shock of the soldier who showed visible confusion at the answer he was just given by the cuttlefish who just shrugged her shoulders slightly.

“Then that means... you were here during the first attack on  Inkopolis ... you... dimension hoppers or whatever have been right under our noses the entire time!” he said as he tried to process everything going through his head at the moment.

Upon hearing this, the red cuttlefish spoke up “That explains why we have been finding so many new members recently.” she said and took a swig from a flask containing something that seemed to be a type of alcohol.

What Marie said just added to the confusion of the new warmonger “I don’t understand... what do you mean with finding so many of you recently?” he asked, making the former idol rub her temples and groan in frustration.

Callie would notice the annoyance her counterpart expressed and decided to take the matter into her own hands “I probably should tell you how we are uh... created to make this a bit easier for you.” she told him.

“We warmongers are ‘born’ when uh... how should I put it? When one experiences... loss. An extreme one of that such as maybe losing or... killing a loved one...” the green-eyed cuttlefish said as she bit her lip while sniffling slightly before wiping away a tear and continued.

“I’m sorry... I-I can’t tell you more... the memories are too painful...” she said before nearly breaking down in tears, making the red Marie run over and catch her cousin while shooting the new warmonger a glare.

The soldier gulped slightly but was still curious about this process and why their eyes apparently seemed different from each other.

Almost as if she had read his mind, Pearl would start to talk to the recruit while having her back facing him 

“To be completely honest, even I don't know much more than that..." War Pearl hummed, "We are a collective. A dying psyche. We are more than insane, we are corrupted. Our dark selves made manifest...destroying the pure in the process...” the idol said.

“But... what about our eyes? Why are they all different?” The soldier asked her, making her sigh in annoyance over having to talk to what was nothing more than a peasant.

“We are sorted into different ‘types’ of sorts. You are what we call a Drone like Marie, meaning you have enhanced strength. Callie is a so called  Restorator , giving her the ability to heal while Marina is a Tactician who somehow can build a machine of  deathfuck from a bolt and screw, but is addicted to something, in her case booze.” 

The idol took a moment to catch her breath since explaining all that was a bit much.

“Anyways, what I am is known as an Apex, meaning that I am above all of you dirtbags.” she said nonchalantly, earning an angered “HEY!” from Marie making the shorter squid turn around and glare.

"Shut up you know it's true!!!" War Pearl spat back, before she turned to the soldier with a grim smile, "You are my property now. My...'family'." She said as she slowly ran a couple of fingers across his chin while lifting his head.

Their conversation would be interrupted Callie finally speaking up again after having recovered from her small mental breakdown, along with a burp from Marina.

"You cribbed that from He of the Stupid Cloak, Pearl." The green cuttlefish said to her blue counterpart who started to look annoyed.

"Oh, you mean Ka-" the  octoling was about to say a name but would get interrupted by her partner before she managed to finish.

"SHUSH, Marina! I  wanna see them meet face to face. Not today, though. Another time. I'm sure he'll be glad to see you..." The stocky inkling said as she turned back to the former soldier.

The new drone just kept looking at her confused and even more speechless than before after hearing this about him being a so called ‘Drone’, making him Pearls property for some reason and relative for that matter.

“Ah think  ya broke him Porlie.” Marina said as she walked over while holding a bottle filled with a foul-smelling liquid which he assumed was the ‘alcohol’ the blue idol had told him about, if it could even be considered normal alcohol due to it being in a bottle of stainless steel.

"He  doesn't need to  know everything YET. Now, let  him free upon the base..."  she turned to the  soldier , " You may freely explore our base,  fresh meat .  It's not like  you can do  any major  damage . Not  unless you feel like  snappin '  your own neck .  I'm sure  you'll make new  friends ..."  she grinned devilishly , " Welcome , to the  War Splats ."


	4. Growing accustomed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After waking up, the New Squidbeak Splatoon receives some help with their current appendage problem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait, i kinda lost some motivation and got lazy ^^;
> 
> Once again thanks to my friend MyNameIsMarkus for helping me with this!

**Chapter 4** **: Growing accustomed**

“Elaine… Elaine…” the muffled voice called out. Why was it so familiar? What happened? And most importantly, how did it know her name? 

The yellow squid tried to move around but found that her body wouldn’t respond for some reason and neither would her eyes, making her panic slightly. Suddenly, something struck her body; and yet she felt no pain. 

Shortly after something would start to what could only be described as buzzing, almost like some sort of generator starting up and soon feeling would return to the agent, making her able to open her eyes with the first thing she saw being none other than the one who she considered the most beautiful woman in the world; Marie. 

“Elaine!” the green cuttlefish would squeal and jump from her wheelchair, tackling the yellow agent who yelped slightly in surprise at the tackle hug she received from the former idol. 

“W-what happened? My body… I-it doesn’t hurt… wait… I’m not in a healing tank?!” she would say in shock upon realizing that she was able to speak and a glass tube wasn’t separating her from her friends anymore. 

“The transfer was a success Agent 4” a scientist said before said yellow squid got dogpiled by all of her friends, making her squeak out in surprise which would soon be replaced by heartfelt laughter. 

Marie would be crying tears of joy seeing and hearing Elaine’s voice once more as she hugged her tightly while the rest started to get up and gave her a bigger group hug or at least the best she could do in Noriko’s case. 

“We thought you were gone for sure” the green squid sister said as her cousin chimed in with her usual happy and cheerful tone. 

“Yeah! But you totally made it! You’re awesome!” she squealed in excitement and gave her fellow agent a tight hug, making her feel like she was getting crushed by the pink idol. 

“Callie… Can’t breathe…” she gasped out, making her friend drop her and start apologizing over and over once more while Elaine tried to assure her it was ok when suddenly they were interrupted by someone clearing their throat. 

An inktoling scientist would walk over with a small table covered in a sheet and spoke up to the small group of woomies and veemos. 

“They’re finished Marina, just like you said you wanted them to be” the inktoling said to the tall octoling who dusted herself up and nodded before walking over 

“Good, did you manage to calibrate the weight and joints correctly to compensate for the current lack of feeling receptors in each of the digits?” she said to the scientist who nodded which mostly just confused the group except for Pearl who smirked. 

The inktoling scentist nodded and replied to Marina “Yes, we tried to find a durable yet light alloy so they wouldn’t break due to the environmental conditions and balance, along with adding a few things ourselves, such as concussive pistons for more powerful impacts and to help getting up.” 

The words coming out of Agent 6’s and the scientists’ mouth had mostly just managed to give the rest of the agency except for 8 a headache and more of less just a dumbfounded muteness. 

Noriko would be the first one to break the silence that had formed from the group who had no idea of what those two had just said. 

“W-what in the world are you two rambling about? I just got up from the longest nap I had, but this is the biggest headache I’ve ever had!” she said to the duo who looked slightly embarrassed since they had become such engrossed in their scientific talk. 

Marina would scratch the back of her head and tried to explain once more “S-sorry Noriko, it’s just I have ordered the construction of new technological prosthetic appendages for you all.” She said, only to have agent 1 through 4 yell at her frustrated. 

“Speak Inklish!” the two cuttlefish and squids said, making Marina blush more and look at the floor before Masumi spoke up and explained in a simpler manner. 

“What she means is she have asked them to make a pair of synthetic arms, in this case robotic.” she told her friends who looked at her and back to Marina a couple of times. 

Noriko would be in the biggest state of shock out of the entire crew, considering who the arms probably was for. 

“Y-you really made those for me?” the squid asked the octoling engineer who nodded, confirming what was under the sheet by pulling it away to reveal the two new metallic arms. 

“As I said before, completely stainless and lightweight to compensate for a few things such as the sadly lack of feeling receptors… So-Augh!” the engineer didn’t manage to finish as the veteran agent tackled her while giving her a hug with her tentacles. 

“Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” Noriko said while sounding like a young squidkid in a candy store, much to the surprise of everyone who didn’t think she was even capable of sounding like a kid at all. 

Marina would be just as surprised and shocked as the rest but quickly returned the hug while laughing “No need to thank me. I just did the right thing.” She told the shorter agent who kept on hugging her while some of the cephalopods in the room decided to either film or take photos. 

“When can I try them out?” Agent 3 said excitedly as she looked at the octoling who helped her get up after the hug. 

“You should be able to try them now if you want, but there still are some things which need adjustments since this is the first time they’ll be used.” Marina said while scratching her chin as she thought of what needed to be fixed. 

The green squid nodded as she looked over at her soon to be new arms with a smile on her face and excitement of finally having her arms back again after losing them in Inkopolis. 

“If you would please follow me.” The inktoling scientist said to the agents as they walked into another room made for operations closely followed by the group of the leaders. 

Inside of the room there would be all sorts of equipment from what looked like surgeon tools such as scalpels and syringes to scientist machinery straight out of a movie, making most of the cephalopods stare in awe. 

The scientist turned around and cleared his throat to make them stop gawking and pointed at a table in the middle of the room where the arms got placed gently by two surgeons. 

“Agent Noriko, if you would be so kind?” they said to the armless squid who nodded and walked into the middle of the room before getting on the table and laid down as a small group consisting of engineers and medics entered the room. 

Marina walked over and looked at her friend with a bit of worry in her eyes. This would be the first time in decades or even a century anyone would get a prosthetic limb. 

“This might hurt a bit Agent 3, so we’re gonna have to restrain you a bit.” One of the medics told his superior who nodded at him as her legs was restrained by two cuffs in the table as the engineers got the arms ready. 

Noriko took some deep breaths to brace herself and keep calm, since she honestly was slightly scared of this operation but said fear disappeared as she looked over at her friends giving her encouraging smiles and gestures such as thumbs up, making her smile back at them. 

“We will now proceed with the operation.” The inktoling said as they walked around the table while the medics and engineers prepared their tools for the surgery of the squid’s new arms. 

Noriko’s face would cringe in pain as the medics began the operation by carefully opening the stumps of her arms with their scalpels. 

Soon after the agent would start to writhe slightly from the pain and managed to break one of the cuffs holding her legs down, leading to some of the personnel to promptly try and hold the leg down as the green squid bit her lip. 

Her friends would be looking at the operation from the other side of a window with a mix of both worry and shock that their friend had managed to break one of the cuffs but they couldn’t imagine what kind of pain she went through to manage that. 

Masumi who still was unable to see got more and more worried by the second as she could only hear the pained sounds of Noriko which made her uncomfortable and immediately asked her fellow agents. 

“W-what’s going on? Is Noriko ok??? Is she hurt?!” the octoling said as she began to panic more and more by the second, promptly leading to Callie comforting her while reassuring the octopus that everything was alright and that the operation was close to be finished. 

Suddenly a scream of pain would pierce through the air as Agent 3 broke through the restraints holding her down, making the rest of the agency cover their ears and perk up while pressing their bodies against the glass to see what was going on. 

Inside the room Noriko would have stopped struggling, making some of the former idols and her partners scream in terror as they moved towards the door as fast as they could to get into their friend and check on her. 

“Let us in!” Elaine would say as the door was sealed off from them while one of the doctors on the other side started to unlock the door, only to have it smacked directly into her face as the yellow squid busted it open. 

“Noriko! NORIKO!” Agent 4 said as she rushed towards the table, only to get grabbed by two of the engineers, making her scream and struggle in rage as the surprisingly strong inkling and octoling held her. 

“Let me go! I need to check on her!” the yellow squid screamed as she soon threw a surprising amount of exotic insults at them while the rest of the group entered the room. 

Marie would get over to the table in her wheelchair and check for a pulse on the other green squid and found one, making her smile warmly and sigh in relief before announcing it to the others. 

“She’s still alive thankfully.” The Squid Sister said, making the rest of the group do the same as she had a moment before and calmed Elaine down in the process who decided she needed to sit down. 

“Of course she is. We’re trying to help her, not murder her.” A voice called out from a door in the other end of the room as a brown tentacled, glass wearing inkling stepped out, dressed in a lab coat, and holding a notepad. 

"Although," the Inkling pressed his glasses further up, "We can't guarantee that, heh heh..." he slowed at the sheer amount of glaring directed his way, "...I was JOKING, jeez..." he said as the group of agents practically hissed at him. 

“Chief engineer Markus! I am not in the mood for your normally somehow funny morbid sense of humor!” Marina screeched at the inkling who mostly had a bored look on his face as he wrote something down on his notepad which probably was not to make anymore jokes for a while. 

"Well excuse me," Markus shot back, "We're kind of in the middle of the end of the world here? A little laugh here and there is going to help keep us alive just as much as my mechs. Speaking of..." he said as he gently poked the head of the currently fainted squid. 

“Hey, hey. Rise and shine Goldilocks.” He said as Agent 3 started to show signs of movement and groaned slightly before sitting up. 

“What happened?” the veteran agent said drowsily just before a certain yellow squid tackled her friend to the floor, making her yelp” 

Elaine would be squeezing Noriko like a child squeezed their doll while tears streamed down her face “Thank the Zapfish you’re ok!” she bawled while her friend tried to process what happened before looking down to see her new arms. 

“I-it worked… It actually worked…” Noriko said as tears started to swell up in her eyes and a smile made it way onto her face as she moved her fingers by opening and shutting her hand. 

The brown-haired inkling adjusted his glasses again while sighing before looking at the two hugging agents. “Of course they work. I helped design them.” He said as he looked at the group. 

"The tech we used to make those is very...complex, for sure. But after some scavenging on the surface, we've managed to get them working. Turns out we Inklings have such control over our ink that we can use it to power artificual limbs by pumping it throughout. Makes sense. Ink is all we are..." the engineer said, earning the confusion from many in the room except the octolings. 

“You know for a normal inkling, you are very well educated.” Callie commented since inklings normally were notorious for not being very bright in the science or math parts of studies. 

“Times are changing, my dear idol.” Markus sighed, “gone are the days of Turf War and Schwaffles. We must evolve to survive.” The engineer said as he looked down at his notepad once more. 

“Not entirely on the Schwaffles part, though. We did manage to save Sean, so we can still have-“ the pink idol said before being interrupted by the inkling chief engineer. 

“Callie, please. Now is not the time. We need to work on Eight’s new eyes.” Markus said, making the still blind octoling gasp with excitement. 

“R-really??? I’m next? When will they be ready?” Agent 8 squeaked in joy as she smiled for the first time in several hours. 

The scientist adjusted his glasses once more before responding to the excited agent. “Well, we’re running some final diagnostics, so… about an hour? Two hours? In the meantime, Three can try to get used to her new arms.” He said to the group. 

Masumi would leap forward and give a warm embrace. Only to find out she was hugging a wall, much to her embarrassment. 

“Uh, Mr Markus, sir?” an octoling approached, clad in a lab suit as well, “You’re needed in the labs for a moment”. The octopus told the inkling who looked back at him before clearing his throat. 

“mmm yes, of course…” he sighed, “I must go. For the moment, please help Agent 3 get used to her arms. I should be back shortly.” Markus said to the group who nodded, before the engineer exited the room and went towards the laboratories. 

After the chief engineer had left, the agents looked at each other in awkward silence before Pearl decided to speak up to break it and get some action in motion. 

“Yo, people! Are we just gonna stand here all day or are we gonna help Noriko getting used to her new arms!?” the short idol said, which was soon followed by small, happy cheers as they made their way to the testing room. 

Some time later the group would be standing in the middle of a big room with Noriko opening and closing her fingers. 

“Alright,” Marie said, “Let’s try something basic first like uh, an apple.” The green cuttlefish said and handed her friend the piece of fruit, only to have it crushed as soon as she had let go of it, much to all of the agents surprise, even Noriko. 

“W-what the heck… I barely even touched it!” the green squid said as she looked at the remains of the crushed apple in her hand in both shock and amazement over the strength these arms had while Masumi was confused over what was going on. 

Marie would take a small step back from her friend just to be safe before speaking up “Ok… that is probably something that should be fixed or controlled…” she said and scratched her chin before picking up a ball. 

“Let’s see how your dexterity is Noriko.” She said and threw the ball towards her, only to hit Agent Three square in the nose, making her yelp and squeak in pain. 

the green cuttlefish would yelp in surprise at this before apologizing to her friend “I’m sorry!” she said as she looked at Agent 3 who had a small nosebleed from the baseball. 

“It’s… it’s alright Marie…” she said “But it’s weird… I wanted to move my arms, but they didn’t react at all when I tried to give them a command.” The green inkling said as she scratched her head. 

Callie would peek over her cousin’s shoulder before coming with a suggestion. 

“Maybe she just isn’t used to them yet? Markus DID say she had to grow more accustomed with them.” The pink cuttlefish said while lifting her beanie that hid her bald head. 

Noriko would nod as she tried to lift her arms once more and open and close her hand while attempting to use both at the same time. 

After a while, she would be able to move both her arms around simultaneously while performing simple tasks such as picking things up, but still had trouble not crushing things. 

“Hey, I think I might have gotten the hang of these arms slightly.” Noriko said as she managed to catch a ball being thrown at her with a small grin which was returned by her group of friends. 

Masumi would sit on the floor and mumble slightly since she still wasn’t able to see what was going on when suddenly a certain scientist returned with another table covered by a sheet. 

"Okay, I think we're good for testing," Markus said proudly, "Gentlesquids, if you please...” the scientist said as he removed the sheet to reveal a pair of robotic eyes, making most of the splatoon gasp in awe. 

“What? What’s going on? What did he bring???” Masumi asked as she tried to walk over with the help of Callie who guided her over to the table. 

“Now, shall we get these into your head little one?” the scientist said as he put a hand on the octolings shoulder who just nodded in approval and with a smile on her face, clearly excited about finally being able to see again. 

“Right, let me get my hammer.” The inkling said, making Masumi squeak in fear and the comment would be against all of the agents' chagrin. 

“Are you crazy!? I thought you were supposed to be the reasonable, smart guy! That plan sound like what a drunk octoling would do!” Elaine said, which earned her a smack to the back of her head by Marina who glared at her. 

"I WAS JOKING, holy shit..." Markus said as he sighed and rubbed his temples. These squid and octokids really couldn’t take a joke of any kind. 

“ANYWAYS!” the scientist said while adjusting his glasses once more “Let’s get some anaesthesia, shall we?” he asked the group while gesturing Masumi to follow him which didn’t exactly work since, well she was still blind. 

Agent 8 nodded as Marina guided her after Markus so the operation could be performed on her “Y-yes, of course.” the octoling said, still slightly nervous about his statement of using a hammer to put her eyes into her head. 

“Great, then follow me my friend.” he said as he and the group moved towards the lab once more. 


	5. Catching up with information

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The New Squid Beak Splatoon get updated on what has been going on while they were out of commission and keeps trying to adjust to the conditions.

**Chapter 5: Catching up with information**

In the aftermath of having received new limbs, and body in Elaine’s case the New Squidbeak Splatoon would be walking around talking to the duo of the agents who hadn’t been in a coma for the past five months.

“So... What did you do during our absence?” Marie asked her octoling counterpart while struggling to walk on her two new legs provided to her by the robotics department.

Marina looked at the green cuttlefish getting help stabilizing herself by Elaine before answering the question she had been asked by the Squid Sister.

“Well, as we have already told you, we dedicated a lot of time in robotics to create your new limbs, but we also made some modifications to our soldiers gear.” the octoling DJ answered her friend.

That peaked the cuttlefish’s interest at hearing about having gear upgraded when they were out of commission.

The shortest of the idols spoke up. “Yeah! We have totally overhauled our soldiers, yo!” she said excitedly just as a couple of soldiers passed the group with a salute.

“Please tell us of the upgrades Pearl!” Masumi said just as excited as her second mother figure, practically bouncing on the spot at the mention of new technology to study.

Marina smiled warmly along with the rest of the agency, seeing the octoling so happy again before she started to tell about their advances in during the near half year the original agents had been in the medical bay.

“First of all, we improved the massed produced hero suits after discovering that they were practically useless against the laser of the sanitized soldiers.” The tall idol said as she explained how they had integrated particles of a new alloy into the suits for better protection.

The alloy, known as Inktanium was lightweight but offered superior protection against most weapons than the old biofoam and aluminium used in older suits.

“The suits are all made up of Inktanium refined into a string form used to sew and patch the jackets and vests, practically making it a very fine chainmail.” The octoling idol explained while Agent 8 listened with a look of awe in her eyes.

While the group walked, they passed what looked to be an armoury of some sort, peeking the interest of Elaine who ran to the door and shrieked in shock as she came face to face with a golden visor belonging to a suit of what looked like power armour.

The ironclad warrior just stared at the android before walking down the hallway, ignoring the gawking from two idols and three agents as they disappeared around a corner.

“What the bloody hell was that Marina?! You didn’t tell us about anything like... that!” Noriko said while accusingly pointing a shaking arm in the direction the armoured soldier had just walked.

“Oh... yeah uh...” Marina said while fidgeting with one of her tentacles as she tried to find a good explanation for nearing scaring Elaine to death right after she had been saved from it.

The rest of the group, excluding Pearl looked at their tall friend who looked a bit awkward at the situation she had found herself in.

“That... was a Rhino.” the engineer finally said, much to the confusion of her friends who didn’t have any idea of what a rhino even was.

“A what now?” Callie asked while scratching her chin curiously at the peculiar name she had just heard for a soldier.

Marina sighed as she explained to her friends the reason why she had chosen that name for the armoured warrior.

“The rhino was a land animal that lived during the days of the humans and were known for their big horn on their snout and their thick hides which protected them.” The tall octoling said with knowledge to her companions who just nodded but still were quite confused.

The group kept walking down the hallway, with Callie noticing something being... off about Noriko with the veteran agent looking sleepier than usual, much to her surprise.

“Is there something wrong Noriko? You seem... off...” the pink cuttlefish asked her green friend who took some time before looking at her.

Agent 3 blinked before answering “Sorry Cal... I... I just haven’t gotten any tea in... well five months...” she mumbled to the former idol before looking back at the floor and turned her head a few moments later. “Plus... I'm hungry...” she sighed tired.

Marie chuckled lightly at the comment. “Tea huh? I didn’t know you were a tea person.” the green squid sister said with her trademark smirk, making the veteran agent blush embarrassed.

A scientist who was passing by seemed to notice their conversation and stopped to walk over to them.

“Did you say tea? Why don’t you go see Doctor Markus? He is kinda famous for his love of tea here.” the scientist said while the agents looked at each other.

“You probably should Noriko, if tea makes you feel better that would be a very good option considering none of us really can’t make good tea.” Elaine told her green haired friend.

Agent 3 looked at her yellow counterpart with a sigh but nodded as she started to walk away from the group before getting stopped by Marina putting a hand on the inkling’s shoulder.

“Uh... Noriko... Doctor Markus’s room would be THAT way...” the tall octoling said and pointed the other way down the hallway they had been walking down, making the agent blush with steam comically coming off her head.

The inkling gained her composure while trying to find an excuse. “I-I knew that!” She said with a surprisingly high-pitched voice while Pearl shook her head slowly at the very bad lie.

“Uh... no... You only woke up a few hours ago... If anyone knows the layout of this place it’s Marina, yo.” She said as Noriko gave up on finding any more excuses and walked in the opposite direction of where they had come from.

Sometime later, the veteran agent arrived at a door with the doctor's name on it and sighed slightly before knocking on, but accidentally dented it, still not used to her new arms.

“Probably isn’t going be too happy about his dented door... I hope he still have some tea though...” the agent mumbled just as the door opened, revealing Doctor Markus.

“Did I hear someone say tea?” the brown-haired inkling said as he looked at Noriko who still seemed a bit embarrassed about the door.

“Uh... yeah... I uh, hope that I don’t disturb?” she asked as she scratched the back of her head slightly but winced when one of her fingers dug a bit too deep into her scalp for comfort.

The doctor chuckled slightly before replying to the female inkling who was currently rubbing the sore spot on her head.

“Not at all. I’m done with what I needed to do in the labs. Just testing some uh... anti-sanitation medication.” He managed to say before being interrupted by a shout from the labs.

“MARCUS IS SHE SUPPOSED TO TURN ORANGE AND MELT WHILE SCREAMING?!” the shouting voice said, to which the doctor answered.

“No! Just-just burn the remains and try again!” he said, shocking the green haired inkling in front of him who couldn’t do anything but stand visibly disturbed with mouth agape at what she just heard.

While Marcus excused himself for what just happened, the agent managed to find the ability to speak again.

“What... the shell was that...?” she asked the doctor in front of her who cleared his throat, apparently having half expected this to happen judging by his calm demeanour.

“Sorry about that Miss Noriko, but what can I say? We make do with what we can scrounge since times are sorta... tough at the moment with proper medical supplies. Anyways what can I help you with?” he asked her.

Snapping back to reality, Agent 3 went back to the subject she had actually come for, trying to ignore the fact that she no more than a few seconds ago had heard the doctor tell his assistant to burn the remains of a failed experiment.

“Well... I would like to ask if you had some uh... tea.” she said, pushing her mechanical fingers against each other shyly.

The doctor scratched his chin sightly at the agent’s request, not having expected her to be much of a person who knew how to relax with a cup of the warm beverage.

“Tea you say? I didn’t take you as tea afficiado.” He said in surprise before smiling once more. “Well, come in then. I think I might have some left somewhere.” he said as the agent smiled slightly and went inside.

Marcus turned his head to the agent before deciding to apologize one more time for the... incident earlier.

“Again, I apologize, but do you expect it to be EASY? We’re currently dealing with people infected by the remains of thousands of Inklings, all with different ink types. It’s chaos in genetic form.” He said as he set over a kettle with water.

Meanwhile the rest of the Splatoon would be exploring more of the base as their friend was relaxing while feeling slightly guilty about it, curiosity was just too much for a certain yellow haired squid and shy octopus to contain.

Elaine would be looking in awe at what she was currently looking at, before her stood a metallic, humanoid looking machine at least two or three times her size with two more of its kind on each side.

“What is that??” The bubbly agent asked Marina while pointing a finger at the recent discovered thing of interest.

The tall octoling smiled proudly, having created the things herself and just as eager as the yellow squid began to explain what was probably her greatest invention yet.

“What you’re seeing is a Mobile. Offense. Bipedal. Invasion. Leaping. Evasive. Security. Unit. Incursion. Tank!” the tall agent said excitedly while receiving what could only be called looks of pure confusion by her fellow agents.

“Or just Mobile Suit for short.” Pearl said to lessen the confusion of the agents who had only recently woken up from their coma.

Callie who would be rubbing her head after the headache inducing science bomb only nodded while wondering how Pearl even understood what had been said. Then again, the short idol had been awake the entire time while they were out.

Her cousin on the other hand had walked up to one of the machines with a thoughtful look on her face and squinted eyes while humming something under her breath.

“So, how effective are they?” the green cuttlefish asked while turning around to face Marina who started to get a less than excited on her face and seemed to mutter something unintelligible, making the former idol sweatdrop.

“You... haven’t even tested them yet have you...?” Marie asked her Off The Hook counterpart who somehow had managed to go over in a corner and begun sulking slightly with Callie trying to cheer her up while assuring her that the machines definitely would be amazing and effective all while what looked like a raincloud formed above the other idols head.

“This is going to be a long day...” Marie sighed as she rubbed her temples and decided to wait for the octoling to stop sulking so they could continue the tour of the base.

Back with Noriko and Doctor Markus, the veteran agent would be trying to enjoy some tea but had some problems to put it lightly.

…

“Hold the cup.” the brown-haired inkling said only to be met with the sound of a teacup breaking, making him sigh before trying once more “... Okay, try again, hold the cup.” he said once more, only to be met with the same result again, making him lose his temper.

“WASTE MY PRECIOUS TEA ONE MORE TIME AND I’LL REPLACE THOSE ARMS WITH CLAMPS! Okay? Hold. The. Cup.” he said as he regained his composure while Agent 3 whimpered in a mix of fear and annoyance.

“I’m trying! It’s hard when I can’t feel anything in my arms!” she sulked while Markus rubbed his temples in exasperation.

“That’s not an excuse to waste my precious tea!” The doctor said, “You know how hard it is to get Eel Grey in the apocalypse?!” he told the inkling in front of him and practically wasn’t wrong since it was hard to get practically anything in the apocalypse.

Noriko sighed and looked back at Markus while somehow looking like a kicked puppy, a rare thing to see the battle-hardened agent look like.

“I’m sorry! This hurts me just as much as it hurts you! Why is it so hard to control these things?!” she said and looked down at her new robotic arms as if they were a couple of snakes that had grown there while trying to move her fingers, only succeeding in moving a few.

The lead scientist grumbled slightly but had a sympathetic look on his face as he explained to the agent once more how her new arms functioned.

“You need to concentrate. You have no arms to feel with but remember the ink that’s part of your body coursing through your new ones. Feel with your INK.” he said while the green haired agent looked up at him.

Looking at another cup, Noriko nodded slowly and began to inhale deep breaths while closing her eyes, focusing on her ink running all the way through the cold, unfeeling prosthetics from the upper arms to each fingertip without feeling much change.

“Come on… concentrate… I am… or rather was able to sit for several days concentrating on a target… this should be a breeze.” Noriko thought to herself while still only feeling the alloy her arms consisted of but found it slightly easier to lift them as she slowly reached out for the cup.

Watching the agent and nodding slightly, Markus smiled slightly at the progress being made and decided to sit down while waiting a few more minutes before once again testing the agent was in order.

“Good, good. We’re making some progress already. Now, try to lift the cup once more, but do not and I repeat, do NOT drop or smash another one.” He said while sending a slight glare at Noriko, indicating he probably was serious about replacing the prosthetics with clamps.

Stuck between wanting to protest about still not being ready yet and the part of her brain screaming at her to just take the tea and leave, Noriko decided to comply with the scientist while the slight glare culled any thoughts about just taking the tea, before grasping the cup after some difficulty even when concentrating entirely on her one arm.

“Alright, now gently try to adjust your grip. As I said before, try to feel with your ink running through that prosthetic and when you feel you’re ready, just take the cup to your mouth and drink. Simple.”

Noriko nodded and waited a few more minutes, making sure that her fingers had a firm but not too strong grip on the cup before slowly lifting it off the table, pausing every now and then to make sure she didn’t drop it before bringing the edge of the cup to her lips and took a sip.

“Bravo! You have managed to finally move your new arms without crushing another cup!” Markus said with a genuine smile and praise despite how snarky it sounded. “Are you able to feel something now?” He asked the agent shortly after.

Noriko put the cup back on the table after taking a few more sips with a heavy sigh but a small smile on her lips before looking over at the scientist to answer his question.

“Not really, but… right now I’m just so happy thanks to this tea that it doesn’t matter at the moment…” she said while feeling the slightest tingle of warmth in the hand she used to hold the cup with.

…

Sitting in another room after having decided to take a short break from the tour, the rest of the squidbeak splatoon who normally enjoyed times like these for relaxation, looked at each other in awkward silence as none of them was able to think of a good way to start a good talk nor being able to relax properly for that matter.

“What is the point even?” Marie said, finally breaking the silence and making the rest of the agents look at her in confusion.

“What do you mean Marie?” Callie asked her cousin, clear worry in her voice. “We fight to get our home back. We fight for Inkopolis, remember?” the pink cuttlefish said as she rubbed her neck that had gotten sore from the metallic tentacles on her head.

“And then what?!” Marie snapped, shocking the other cephalopods in the room, not expecting the normally calm and level-headed agent to start shouting.

“Face it Cal! WE’VE LOST! Even if we somehow DID manage to recapture Inkopolis, what will we do then huh? Things won’t go back to how they were before! Get it through your thick bimbo skull!... We lost…” she and paused to catch her breath before looking at her own legs.

“Look at us… We aren’t even ourselves anymore. We are half what we used to be!...” Marie said, referring to their prosthetics with a defeated look in her eyes.

Callie would be shocked beyond measure, petrified even over what her cousin had just said to her, the same cuttlefish who had founded the resistance and stood strong in the face of danger was just now doubting their cause, brought up a very sensitive subject and shouted it at her face all while calling her a bimbo.

“HEY! Leave her out of this!” Pearl shouted back at Marie and got in front of Callie who without realizing it, had slowly started to cry because of her cousin shouting at her.

“What the carp do you think gives you the right to call her that AND practically shout PTSD at her?” SHE’S YOUR COUSIN FOR COD’S SAKE!” the small inkling hissed at the green cuttlefish with a glare and ready to give the squid sister another piece of her mind before feeling a sharp pain in her cheek just as Marie slapped her.

“Don’t you get it?! We are currently barely holding out against an uncaring, borderline demonic army that doesn’t feel fear nor remorse and won’t hesitate to splat themselves just to take us with them! Face it! We have already lost! Our way of life no, our WORLD is gone!” Marie growled at Pearl with renewed energy, while the short inkling was rubbing her cheek in pain.

Pearl stopped rubbing her cheek before gesturing to Marie to get down on her level. Maybe the slap had knocked some sense and realization into her?

Just as Marie was about to ask her that, she would feel a sharp pain going through her nose as the short inkling headbutted the taller cuttlefish, sending her to the floor with a bruised and slightly bleeding nose.

Seeing Marie get headbutted made Callie snap out of her trance and look at Pearl marching up to the other squid sister, who was holding her bleeding nose and cursing like a sailor before the short idol grabbed her by the collar and looked directly into her eyes.

“You listen up Mar, I have absolutely NO idea what happened to your spirit while floating around inside that healing tank, but i’ll be DAMNED if I let this entire rebellion fall AND take the hopes and dreams of the remaining ungooped ‘lings with it just because you decided to give up after a single defeat!” Pearl hissed at Marie while Marina attempted to intervene only to get shushed by her partner.

Pearl kept glaring at Marie, who had a look on her face that was a mix of anger, confusion and surprise before the short inkling verbally tore into her once more, giving her another piece of her mind.

“Are you really going to give up just because of that defeat? We may be battered and crippled right now, but did it stop me and ‘Rina from fighting when you were all out of commission? NO! We kept on fighting, hoping for the day where you finally woke up again to lead the Inkopolis Resistance once more! Instead of laying down and accept defeat, you need to get up again and grow stronger!... Do you think Cap’n would want to see you like this?”

At the mention of her now late grandfather, Marie froze in place, staring into the air as Pearl’s words sunk into her head and anchored themselves in place while repeating over and over again like an echo.

“Pearl is right…” the voice of Masumi piped up from the octoling sitting in her chair and hugging her legs.

“Cuttlefish-sensei wouldn’t give up… tell we keep fighting… endure… return city back…” Masumi said in broken inkling, struggling in making it more fluent due to holding back tears at the mentioning of the old inkling she had grown to see as a mentor.

While Marina and Elaine attempted to comfort the octoling agent, Callie walked over to Marie and kneeled down next to her and put a hand on her cousin’s shoulder.

“She’s right Marie. I know how the situation seems completely hopeless right now, but grandpa would want us to keep fighting. You always listened to what he said and took his words of encouragement to heart.”

Callie looked at Marie who was still processing the words said to her while also trying to keep her bruised nose from bleeding.

While the two cousins had their heart to heart, Pearl being the squid she is, walked back over to Marie once more, this time speaking in a more calm voice than the anger filled one she used a few moments ago.

“You need to think about it yo. If cap’n was here, he would be disappointed about giving up… to him, it would be the same as abandoning you two in the wild, and it would also mean that so many of our friends and brethren gave their life… for nothing…”

Pearl bowed her head solemnly as the last words left her mouth, and Callie could do nothing but nod slowly in agreement of the words while looking at her cousin with a look that said “Do you really want that our comrades died for nothing?”

Marie wiped the ink from her nose and stood up with help from Callie and looked at the rest of the agents in the room before speaking once more.

“You’re right… Grandpa wouldn’t want us to quit… and if I did, I wouldn’t only soil his memory, but every single inkling and octolings too… we need to keep fighting until the end… Thank you… everyone.” She said to her fellow agents who once more smiled, happy to see she had gotten her confidence back.

“Yo, what did I miss?” The voice of Noriko cut through the room, making the rest of the agents turn around to see her standing in the doorway holding a cup of tea.

Marie smiled at her slightly. “Nothing special Noriko, nothing special.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for this super late update! Laziness and school made me sort of forget this. Again i'm so sorry! >~<
> 
> once again a big thank you to MyNameIsMarkus for helping with this!


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